The Love Of Leia
by ariolfo101
Summary: Darth Vader encounters a certain spunky senator and develops a soft spot for the Princess.
1. Chapter 1

For the Love of Leia

Darth Vader had never liked being present in the Imperial Senate. Watching the hypocritical politicians suck up to the Emperor, the moffs scrambling for control of systems, always filled him with a feeling of disgust and revulsion. Darth Vader loathed seeing Palpatine in his element, hearing his oily phases, grandiose speeches about power and Imperial might. Every word would stab him with self-hatred, hatred for the complete and utter FOOL who he hated with all his being. Anakin Skywalker.

Hearing the senate chamber ring with empty promises and hollow lies also reminded him of what it had been. There had been plenty of lies back then, but there had also been hope, and progress. And there had been HER. Her divine voice arguing calmly, but determinedly for the good of the galaxy. A true heart beating for the right. A heart that no longer beat at all, because of him. What would she think of this?

Vader suspected this was part of the reason why Palpatine ordered him to accompany him to senate meetings. Why he was here, exchanging hardly pleasant pleasantries with puppet politicians when all he wanted to do was go to his private chambers and brood. A herald interrupted his thoughts.

"Princess Leia of the planet Alderaan."

The Emperor rose from his throne to give the young senator a neat little bow.

"How lovely to welcome you to our majestic Imperial Senate, Princess."

"The pleasure is all mine." said the princess in a voice singed with angry disgust.

At that tone of voice, Vader's eyes, which had been staring unseeing at the bowing nobles before the Imperial dais, snapped to the slight senator standing stiffly, STANDING, not bowing, before the Emperor's throne. Bail Organa swept in front of the princess to shield her from the Emperors attention, before whisking her off to a more secluded section of the room. Vader watched with interest as the older Senator began admonishing his daughter for her rude and, considering the man she was being rude to, deadly behavior. From the cock of her eyebrows and the fire in her eyes, he could deduce that she was perfectly aware of what she'd done, regretted none of it, and was probably going to do it again. He was too far away to hear their conversation, but she had no problem replying to her father and from what he could see, she was being pretty sassy about it. Vader half smiled behind the mask, before his burns reminded him that he was Darth Vader, and Darth Vader did not smile for any reason.

But as Darth Vader watched the perky young princess for the remainder of the party, he found that his burns were having to remind him not to smile very frequently. And when the Emperor bade all his senators, including Bail Organa and his daughter good evening, Vader had to smirk.

The Princess still had not bowed.

 _Hello Readers! I whipped this up because I love Princess Leia and was wondering. Vader probably went to the Imperial Senate occasionally and Leia was a Senator there. Wouldn't seeing a bright, sassy young woman speak her mind remind him of another certain senator? Would he have developed a soft spot for Leia? The father/ daughter relationship doesn't get nearly as much attention as the father /son one._

 _No incest in this story. I will continue._

 _PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!_

 _All ideas are welcome!_


	2. Chapter 2

A medical droid's sensors beeped as it scanned the sith lord for vital readings. _The very latest in high technology._ The emperor had said. _Only the best for my friend._ Darth Vader spared the clunking creation with a disdainful eye. A model that had been used before the Clone Wars, outdated by several years. The emperor could have easily afforded much better. It was an insult to his intelligence to say this was the "latest model". An intentional insult.

Vader's thoughts wander as he was slowly lowered into a bacta tank, the foggy liquid swirling his murky thoughts. If he had cared about living, about his own comfort and value, he would have ordered better medical treatment. But he had ceased to care about his own well-being the day her being slipped from this galaxy's grip.

But here he was, soaking in bacta that would knit his flesh back together just enough to keep him alive and in pain. There was another senate meeting today, dull and boring as they all were, and the emperor was insisting that he attend,. There had been faint rumors about a force sensitive on Lothal, and at any other time Vader would have made an excuse to be on the hunt again for his favorite prey. But a dim tugging at what was left of his heart kept him on Corosant. A very dim, barely there, pitiful sort of tugging. But it was enough.

It had been exactly thirty seven standard days since he had first laid eyes on the young senator from Alderaan. Chained to his post by the throne, he had watched her out of the corner of his eye, her snarky manner, prideful bearing, fury in the face of injustice. It was as if the barren skies Tatooine were giving forth rain. Her every spark of defiance kept a fire in him alive, and he burned with pride and admiration, his burns unable to keep him from blazing a grim grin.

She was a defiant slave girl, rattling and pulling at her chains, giving the master haughty looks in the face of her beatings, then beating him at his own games.

It gave him hope in his own bondage of shame and hate and bitter misery. That even if he was weak, there was someone out there who was strong. Young, foolish, so much like he had been. But stronger, better than he had been, someone who stood up to Palpatine the way he had not. Leia. The strong one. Leia, my strength.

" Your basic vital functions are improving greatly." Beeped the droid. "There is no medical explanation for this…"

Vader's thoughts froze in their tracks. Sith Lords were not weak. Sith Lords did not need inspiration. Sith Lords relied on hate and anguish for power, not the hope provided by a fiery young idealist with dark brown hair and snapping caramel eyes.

"Your suit is ready." Beeped the droid, as his moveable coffin closed around him. "You are functional. You must go to the senate and wait at.."

"Yes, yes," interrupted Lord Vader, sweeping out of the chamber grandly. "I am well aware of the arrangements. Inform the emperor…" The Sith lord paused at the door, torn between slaking his hate with the blood of a possible force-sensitive on Lothal, or going to the Senate to feel his chains loosen for a short hour. Deliberating for a moment, he turned sharply to the droid.

"Will Princess Leia Organa be speaking at the senate today?"

"She is scheduled for a forty five minute speech on Alderaan's neutral position in Galactic affairs and a debate with Moff Tarkin about the spice mines on Kessel, sir."

Vader's mind was made up. "Tell the Emperor I will be there."

"And you are dismissed. I am ordering a new medical droid, as well as high tech bacta patches for my facial muscles."

"The Emperor does not deem it necessary…"

"Trust me." Vader stretched his cheeks, sore from smiling. "I need them."

The chains rattled.

 _This is ongoing. Sorry for the wait!_

 _REVIEWS AND FEEDBACK WELCOME!_


	3. Chapter 3

"You naivete is admirable and extensive, Princess Leia." grated Tarkin, glaring his opponent down. "But the slaves are needed to mine spice, a much valued commodity in the galaxy, and the Empire will not meddle in the affairs of Jabba the Hutt."

"May I remind you, Moff Tarkin, that spice is an illegal substance in the galaxy and that if the Imperial might is as great as you claim it is, why are you not crushing this slimy slavemaster on his dustball?"

"Perhaps," continued Leia archly, "your might is not as great as you claim."

Vader could sense Tarkin's swelling ire in the Force, though none of it showed on his face. But the princess smirked as if she knew she was hitting a nerve and boldly continued. "If the empire negotiated with a crime lord with no interest but his own profit, why does the empire not negotiate with the alliance of reformers who only wish to better the political system?"

The very air went dark and oily and the councilroom froze. The emperor, who had been contentedly nodding along to the debate, suddenly became rigidly alert. Bail Organa stared at his daughter in horror. Tarkin raised an eyebrow and said slyly, "My dear, is it possible you _sympathize_ with these rebels?"

" I only wish for the betterment of the political system and peace of the galaxy." stated Leia. "Are against such principals?"

The emperor's cracked voice rung above Tarkin's retort, smoothly oiling over tension.

"There is no better political system. The Republic failed to bring peace to the galaxy, while my Empire has succeeded. Do you know that, my dear princess?"

"I know how democracy should work. I am free to speak in this Senate."

"Yes." Said the emperor sweetly. "Of course you are free to speak, my dear. But," he turned his hooded gaze meaningfully to the red guards stationed his side. "things we say do have consequences."

Vader had seen politicians dragged off the floor. He had even dragged a few of them off himself. But as Leia opened her mouth to speak her death sentence, Vader could not bear to see her light extinguished. He felt something like defiance stir in him, the need to protect, like when he had glared down politicians who were subtly threatening Padme. Leia's eyes widened and her eyes flickered toward him, as if noticing something. That decided it.

The Sith Lord walked down to the arena.

"This debate," his deep voice rung out. 'is pointless and stupid. It changes nothing."

 _So stop trying to get yourself killed_ he mentally warned Leia.

He knew she could not hear him, but her eyes focused on his mask intently.

"And what is your suggestion, Lord Vader." Asked Tarkin.

"Crush them both."

He had never liked negotiations anyway.


	4. REVIEWER HELP NEEDED

To all reader's who have invested their time and reviews into my story, "The Love Of Leia", the author sorely needs your help! At this point in the story, I am faced with great indecision on where to take the plot. YOUR REVIEWS will carry across the void of space to restart my writing hyperdrive and get this story updated. Suggestions for future chapters and plot twists, as well as any ideas you might have for this fic's course in the future, are all welcome and needed.

Help me, Reviewing Readers. You are my only hope.

ARIOLFO


	5. Chapter 6

The senators were filing out of the Senate chamber, their rich robes of purple or crimson folding about them, muting them into one big muddle of color, indistinguishable from each other. Darth Vader stood sentinel outside the door, a blatant blot of black ink on the pretty picture, sending his waves of hate and disgust toward every senator that filed out under his unblinking gaze. Their shudders and fearful sideways glances gave him the only pleasure he could feel as a Sith. The pleasure of being feared.

He hated them. He loathed them all. Slimy, conniving stupid beings that they all were. They could never see anything. They hadn't seen Padme for the beautiful, loving, angelic being she was. They hadn't listened to her. They hadn't appreciated her enough, loved her enough. So, they deserved to be slaves in their gilded chains, living in fear and despair.

And he deserved it too.

The Emperor's hood turned, and he could see a yellowing cracked grin leering his way. Vader sent an especially fierce wave of hatred toward his master, but Palpatine's grin only grew wider as he rode out Vader's storm. Then he turned toward his lesser playthings, but not before he had hissed one word into the void of Vader's mind.

 _Slave._

His cybernetic hand went to the decorative chin that clasped his cloak. Vader was, and he knew.

Suddenly, he sensed something. Light.

Not light that was the clear, calm, steady light of the Jedi. This light burned, danced with vitality.

Leia.

She was behind him, he could sense the soft rustle of her senatorial robe, the breaths she drew in, the fierce beating of her heart. The whole world narrowed down to himself, and the presence behind his back. He was painfully aware of each noxious exhalation that came through his mask, each blink of the buttons that were his innards, each whirr of the gears in his crushing hands. He could feel her caution, her determination, her curiosity.

She waited for him to speak to her.

What would he say?

"Are you…?" the words came out in a raspy whisper that was still somehow too loud.

"Are you…" the question died in his mouth. A childish question he had asked at nine years old, a slave. But Vader knew there was no need to ask it now. He knew what she was. He didn't need to ask her.

"Are you at all familiar with angels?"

"What?" the princess swallowed her confusion. "That's a funny question, Lord Vader."

"There are two types of people in this world. Slaves and angels." He could sense her befuddlement but went on. "Practically every being in the galaxy is born to be a slave. Be it to an institution, like the Jedi. Or to greed and power, like the politicians." He indicated the colorful flutter of finery swirling under the huge chandelier. "Slaves are what we are and slaves is what we'll always be."

"And then there are a few select people who live among mortals, but are so much more than that. People who are more pure, beautiful and wise than any of the scum that inhabits this galaxy. People who deserve to be bowed to and worshiped, so good are they."

"I suppose you mean the Emperor and yourself." Interrupted Leia, sarcasm seeping into her tone. "Yeah, I see what you mean." She turned to leave.

"No." said Vader, and he could feel her stop in her tracks. "I mean you."


End file.
